Cigarette



Jan. 19, 1960 J. M. CORDEIRO, JR

CIGARETTE Filed Dec. 1, 1958 PHOSPHORESCE/VT F/L TfR INVENTOR Jose/w M CORDE/RO, fe.

fl BY ATTORNEYS United States Patent @fiice 2,921,587 Patented Jan. 19, 1960 CIGARETTE Joseph M. Cordeiro, Jr., North Tiverton, RI. Application December 1, 1958, Serial No. 777,466 1 Claim. (Cl. 131-10) This invention relates to cigarettes and particularly to filter cigarettes, that is, tobacco filled and paper wrapped cigarettes which have a filter in one end to filter out the injurious ingredients of the tobacco which are released as the tobacco burns.

To be eifective in use the filter must be in the mouth of the smoker on the draft end of the cigarette. It is therefore a misadventure to reverse the cigarette in the mouth and attempt to light the filter end.

In sutlicient light to render the cigarette clearly visible,

there is usually no difliculty in distinguishing the two ends of the cigarette. Commonly the filter end is distinctive, as by a dilierent color from the rest of the cigarette.

In the darkness, however, it is not easy to distinguish the ends and one is apt inadvertently to get the wrong end in the mouth. It is the principal object, therefore, of this invention to provide means whereby one can easily distinguish the two ends of a filter cigarette in the dark.

A further object is to provide such means which may be incorporated into the cigarette and permanently associated with its ingredients without affecting the geometric configuration of the cigarette and may be burned with the other ingredients without affecting the taste or having any deleterious efifect upon the smoker.

Still other objects and advantages of the invention will appear from the following description.

According to the invention a luminescence is imparted to the cigarette at one end, preferably the filter end, in such a way as not to impair the smoking quality of the cigarette, which will make that end phosphorescent or light emitting in the dark.

To this end the invention comprehends a cigarette of the filter type having a phosphorescent substance, that is, a substance which will glow in the dark, locally applied externally upon the paper wrapper at a place near one end of the cigarette, preferably, upon the filter end. This luminescent material will be applied in liquid form of substantially the consistency of printers ink.

Commonly the filter is contained within its separate paper wrapper which extends beyond the end of the filter and overlaps and is secured to the tubular paper wrapper for the tobacco filler. Advantageously, therefore, the luminescent material may be applied to this relatively short length of filter wrapper by a printing or like operation, prior to wrapping the individual papers about the filters.

The invention will now be described in connection with the embodiments illustrated in the accompanying drawings.

Fig. l is a perspective view of a cigarette embodying the invention.

Fig. 2 is a partial longitudinal section and partial elevation of the same.

Fig. 3 is an enlarged fragmentary longitudinal section,

partially in elevation, of the filter end of a slightly modified embodiment of the invention.

In the construction of Figs. 1 and 2, the paper wrapper is aone piece wrapper. The cigarette has the conventional tobacco filler l and filter 2 and tubular paper wrapper 3 which in this case is a continuous tube extending from end to end of the cigarette and closely surrounding both the tobacco filler and the filter.

Imprinted in some manner upon the paper wrapper is a band of phosphorescent material 4 which completely encircles the cigarette and is disposed on the portion of the wrapper surrounding the filter. As shown it is a relatively narrow band and it is obvious that the design or configuration of the imprinted phosphorescent material is immaterial so long as it issubstantial enough to be apparent in the dark. It may be suflicicnt to have a single spot or a series of dots or other less extensive form of imprint.

The embodiment illustrated in Fig. 3 difiers from that of Figs. 1 and 2 in that instead of having a single continuous wrapper 3, it has a wrapper 3a for the tobacco filler It and a separate wrapper 3!) for the filter 2. The end of the wrapper 3a extends rearwardly beyond the end of the tobacco filler and slightly overlaps the adjacent end of'the filter, and the'filter wrapper 3b extends forwardly beyond the end of the filter and slightly overlaps the end of the wrapper 3a and the adjacent end of the tobacco filler.

With such construction, the phosphorescent material is imprinted upon the filter section of wrapper 3b which is usually of quite difierent characteristics from those of the main cigarette paper 3a which is consumed in the smoking, being heavier and more easily handled in the printing operation. Such construction therefore makes for economy as well as convenience in operation.

It is obvious, of course, that the phosphorescent imprint may be upon the cigarette paper near the end opposite the filter, and that other modifications in the constructions shown and above particularly described may be made within the scope of the invention as defined in the following claim.

What is claimed is:

In a cigarette comprising a tubular paper wrapper, a cylindrical filter filling one end of the paper wrapper, tobacco filler contained within and filling the rest of the paper wrapper, the improvement which comprises a phosphorescent material imprinted on the external surface of the paper wrapper adjacent one end thereof, the

arrangement of the imprinted phosphorescent material being such that the geometric configuration of the cigarette is unafiected, the cigarette may be smoked without alrecting the taste of the tobacco, and the imprinted portion is visible in the dark.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,013,508 Seaman Sept. 3, 1935 2,639,715 Molins May 26, 1953 2,650,169 Goldstein Aug. 25, 1953 2,765,515 Knudsen Oct. 9, 1956 2,782,788 Sholtz Feb. 26, 1957 2,828,750 Lanza Apr. 1, 1958 

